Arabidopsis plants perform arithmetic division to prevent starvation at night

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Standard

Arabidopsis plants perform arithmetic division to prevent starvation at night. / Scialdone, Antonio; Mugford, Sam T; Feike, Doreen; Skeffington, Alastair; Borrill, Philippa; Graf, Alexander; Howard, Martin; Smith, Alison M.

In: Elife, Vol. 2, 25.06.2013, p. e00669.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Harvard

Scialdone, A, Mugford, ST, Feike, D, Skeffington, A, Borrill, P, Graf, A, Howard, M & Smith, AM 2013, 'Arabidopsis plants perform arithmetic division to prevent starvation at night', Elife, vol. 2, pp. e00669. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00669

APA

Scialdone, A., Mugford, S. T., Feike, D., Skeffington, A., Borrill, P., Graf, A., Howard, M., & Smith, A. M. (2013). Arabidopsis plants perform arithmetic division to prevent starvation at night. Elife, 2, e00669. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00669

Vancouver

Scialdone A, Mugford ST, Feike D, Skeffington A, Borrill P, Graf A et al. Arabidopsis plants perform arithmetic division to prevent starvation at night. Elife. 2013 Jun 25;2:e00669. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00669

Author

Scialdone, Antonio ; Mugford, Sam T ; Feike, Doreen ; Skeffington, Alastair ; Borrill, Philippa ; Graf, Alexander ; Howard, Martin ; Smith, Alison M. / Arabidopsis plants perform arithmetic division to prevent starvation at night. In: Elife. 2013 ; Vol. 2. pp. e00669.

Bibtex

@article{6ba578b2d241455dba29e7db09438c6c,
title = "Arabidopsis plants perform arithmetic division to prevent starvation at night",
abstract = "Photosynthetic starch reserves that accumulate in Arabidopsis leaves during the day decrease approximately linearly with time at night to support metabolism and growth. We find that the rate of decrease is adjusted to accommodate variation in the time of onset of darkness and starch content, such that reserves last almost precisely until dawn. Generation of these dynamics therefore requires an arithmetic division computation between the starch content and expected time to dawn. We introduce two novel chemical kinetic models capable of implementing analog arithmetic division. Predictions from the models are successfully tested in plants perturbed by a night-time light period or by mutations in starch degradation pathways. Our experiments indicate which components of the starch degradation apparatus may be important for appropriate arithmetic division. Our results are potentially relevant for any biological system dependent on a food reserve for survival over a predictable time period. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00669.001. ",
keywords = "Arabidopsis/growth & development, Photosynthesis, Starch/metabolism",
author = "Antonio Scialdone and Mugford, {Sam T} and Doreen Feike and Alastair Skeffington and Philippa Borrill and Alexander Graf and Martin Howard and Smith, {Alison M}",
year = "2013",
month = jun,
day = "25",
doi = "10.7554/eLife.00669",
language = "English",
volume = "2",
pages = "e00669",
journal = "Elife",
issn = "2050-084X",
publisher = "eLife Sciences Publications",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Arabidopsis plants perform arithmetic division to prevent starvation at night

AU - Scialdone, Antonio

AU - Mugford, Sam T

AU - Feike, Doreen

AU - Skeffington, Alastair

AU - Borrill, Philippa

AU - Graf, Alexander

AU - Howard, Martin

AU - Smith, Alison M

PY - 2013/6/25

Y1 - 2013/6/25

N2 - Photosynthetic starch reserves that accumulate in Arabidopsis leaves during the day decrease approximately linearly with time at night to support metabolism and growth. We find that the rate of decrease is adjusted to accommodate variation in the time of onset of darkness and starch content, such that reserves last almost precisely until dawn. Generation of these dynamics therefore requires an arithmetic division computation between the starch content and expected time to dawn. We introduce two novel chemical kinetic models capable of implementing analog arithmetic division. Predictions from the models are successfully tested in plants perturbed by a night-time light period or by mutations in starch degradation pathways. Our experiments indicate which components of the starch degradation apparatus may be important for appropriate arithmetic division. Our results are potentially relevant for any biological system dependent on a food reserve for survival over a predictable time period. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00669.001.

AB - Photosynthetic starch reserves that accumulate in Arabidopsis leaves during the day decrease approximately linearly with time at night to support metabolism and growth. We find that the rate of decrease is adjusted to accommodate variation in the time of onset of darkness and starch content, such that reserves last almost precisely until dawn. Generation of these dynamics therefore requires an arithmetic division computation between the starch content and expected time to dawn. We introduce two novel chemical kinetic models capable of implementing analog arithmetic division. Predictions from the models are successfully tested in plants perturbed by a night-time light period or by mutations in starch degradation pathways. Our experiments indicate which components of the starch degradation apparatus may be important for appropriate arithmetic division. Our results are potentially relevant for any biological system dependent on a food reserve for survival over a predictable time period. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00669.001.

KW - Arabidopsis/growth & development

KW - Photosynthesis

KW - Starch/metabolism

U2 - 10.7554/eLife.00669

DO - 10.7554/eLife.00669

M3 - Article

C2 - 23805380

VL - 2

SP - e00669

JO - Elife

JF - Elife

SN - 2050-084X

ER -